When you and your partner begin premarital counseling, your counselor will want to get to know you both as well as your relationship. In order to accomplish this, they will ask questions around the following:
- Common interests and activities
- Marital expectations
- Budget and Finance
- Children and parenting
- Intimacy
If there is a particular area that they feel needs to be explored further (for example, you note that you and your partner have very different spending habits and views on money), they’ll guide the conversation in the given direction.
“To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health…” Do these words ring a bell? Do they make you hear wedding bells?
Marriage vows: the thoughtful promises one makes another on the day of their wedding. The promises to love one another through it all. Love can be hard, but it’s a beautiful part of life. Especially when you’ve found the person you see your forever with. With this level of commitment though comes a host of questions and high emotions. Have I found my soul mate? Do soul mates even exist? How can I be sure this is the one? All of these questions can be answered through premarital counseling. At Thriveworks McLean, our counselors anknow that marriage is a huge commitment and we want to help assure you that your relationship is ready for that next step.
What Is Premarital Counseling?
Throughout the process of planning your wedding (or even before planning your wedding), prepare for your marriage. Premarital counseling can help you build a solid foundation for your life together. It will give you the time and opportunity to get to know each other even better, as well as the ability to set goals for your future life together.
Premarital counseling gives you and your partner the chance to discuss major aspects of your life prior to the big day. Some of these include:
- Common interests and leisure activities
- Role expectations
- Communication styles
- Religion and worship attendance
- Household duties and expectations
- Budget and finance
- Children and parenting styles
- Public or private education
- Sexuality and intimacy
- Needs for space and privacy
- Where the family unit will reside
- Finances and debt
- Occupations and careers
- Holiday expectations and travel
- Relationships with extended family and in-laws
This list is long, and it may seem daunting. But these are all parts of life that are worth discussing. In a marriage, two lives join together and become one—and you can’t pick and choose what parts of your lives merge because they all do.
Premarital counseling assists in connecting the dots of your future marriage. Some of these items may not seem critical, but each one represents a potential source of conflict. Discussing them early with a neutral third party is one of the best ways to approach these decisions. Let Thriveworks McLean be your neutral third party.
What Are the Benefits of Premarital Counseling?
Premarital counseling can minimize the fear of future separation or divorce. Better insight into your relationship can improve the way the two of you work together. Some of the benefits you and your partner can experience through premarital counseling can include:
- Confidence and assertiveness
- Patience
- Avoiding dependency and co-dependency
- Developing realistic expectations of others
- Contentment
- Developing coping skills
- Establishing individual and unit goals
When you and your partner commit to premarital counseling, you aren’t implying that you have issues. You are creating a plan, being proactive, and building a foundation for your marriage to grow on.
Begin Premarital Counseling at Thriveworks McLean
Are you planning a wedding? If so, you probably feel like there isn’t enough time in the day for premarital counseling. But at Thriveworks McLean, we think that premarital counseling is one of the most important plans to make leading up to the big day. Marriage is a lifelong commitment to your partner, and we want to be sure the two of you have built a strong foundation before you say, “I do.”
When you give us a call, we could have an appointment for you within 24 hours. We understand wedding planning is busy; we offer weekend and evening availability for those couples who might have a lot on their schedules (as well as those who haven’t yet started wedding planning).
It would be our honor to prepare you for your life as a married couple. Choosing to get married is a huge step, and we want you to be ready. At Thriveworks McLean, we pride ourselves on providing skilled, passionate, professional care. Our counselors and psychologists are ready to work with you two to create a bright future. Call us today at (571) 589-4042.
